Police in the central resort town of Nha Trang are planning a project to strengthen security for tourists, especially foreigners, from now till 2015, according to a local meeting on Thursday.

Speaking at the meeting, Senior lieutenant-colonel Nguyen Van Ngan, chief of Nha Trang's police division, said the plan was to establish a special task force for protecting tourists from crimes, mainly robberies.

Cameras will also be set up at public places, especially those which have "sensitive" security, according to Nguyen Chien Thang, chairman of the town's People's Committee.

As tourism is central to Nha Trang's development, it is an "urgent" job to guarantee the town's tourism security, Thang said.

According to Ngan, many robberies targeting foreign tourists, mainly Russians, have taken place in the town over the past two years.

The Russian Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City sent a letter to the foreign affairs department of Khanh Hoa Province recently, requesting concerned agencies take measures to suppress crimes and guarantee security for Russian tourists in the town, Ngan said.

The request came along side reports that the number of Russian tourists to Nha Trang was increasing.

A report in the Dan Viet (Vietnamese people) news website quoted Hoang Thi Phong Thu, chairwoman of Anh Duong Company, which operates direct flights from Russia to Khanh Hoa, as saying on Friday that they would triple the number of weekly flights from October 25.

Currently the Vietnamese company is cooperating with the Turkish-owned Pegas Turistik Company in operating between seven and nine flights from nine Far East cities and Siberia to the provincial Cam Ranh International Airport per week. Each flight carries 180-200 passengers.

Nearly 60,000 Russian tourists have visited Nha Trang so far this year, according to the news report. The number is expected to cross 100,000 by the year-end, it added.